Revisionism tends toward universalism, the downplaying of sin, and otherwise portraying reality—even God Himself—as malleable to our will, preferences, and desires. In turn, the Bible is reduced to a contradictory text that is prone to misunderstanding and thus a powerful instrument wielded for various agendas.
The Kigali Commitment front-ends these issues before dealing with the situation in England. In contrast to the revisionists, Kigali maintains that the Bible provides the clear, authoritative, enforceable standard for doctrinal matters that Anglican pastoral leaders—especially bishops—vow to uphold as outlined in the Ordinal. In their endorsement of sin, the archbishop of Canterbury and his colleagues that support same-sex blessings have broken these vows.
And make no mistake, Archbishop Justin Welby and his immediate predecessors, such as Rowan Williams, fall under GAFCON’s clear censure: “Successive Archbishops of Canterbury have failed to guard the faith by inviting bishops to Lambeth who have embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture. This failure of church discipline has been compounded by the current Archbishop of Canterbury who has himself welcomed the provision of liturgical resources to bless these practices contrary to Scripture. This renders his leadership role in the Anglican Communion entirely indefensible.” This references the welcoming of other western bishops, such as those from the USA’s Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada, that had already capitulated to the LGBT+ agenda.
Ecclesiastical legitimacy does not ultimately derive from venerable institutions. The Anglican claim of catholicity arises not from a chain of consecrations leading back to the apostles to the exclusion of those bishops confessing the “faith once delivered to the saints.” The historic episcopate is meant to seal and confirm adherence to the catholic faith, not render such adherence secondary or unnecessary. So it was when St. Athanasius and his fellow orthodox bishops faced down the Arian bishops, so it is today. Doctrinal infidelity ruptures catholicity.
Read more at WORLD Opinions.
St. Jude's Anglican Church
We are a parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church. We have been worshiping together in the greater Richmond area for over a decade. We’d love to have you join us for Christian worship in the rich Anglican tradition.
